Over the winter, I've collected two recipes that I've been itching to try:
Pappardelle With Spring Vegetables, and
Spring Vegetable Ragout With Fresh Pasta. Now that we're starting to see the fruits (okay, veggies, actually) of spring, I finally get to make this!
The latter recipe is exceedingly simple. It calls for blanching whatever baby spring vegetables you have, reducing that water to a vegetable broth, and tossing vegetables, fresh pasta, fresh herbs, and butter with the broth. The former one is a bit more complex. It calls for a quick sauté of the vegetables, and tossing with a sauce of shallot, seasonings (cayenne and celery seed), mascarpone, and reduced chicken stock.
When I look at the pictures of the two recipes, in both I see the ultimate taste of spring. It should be crisp, incredibly light, and fresh tasting. Because of that, I like the herbs from the latter, and I think the heaviness of mascarpone cheese called for in the former would be way too heavy. On the other hand, I believe the sauté pan would give the vegetables a crispness that blanching wouldn't (think stir fry), and the dash of cayenne would definitely liven the dish. While either vegetable broth & butter or chicken stock would make a wonderful sauce, I'm leaning towards stock. The collagens it has (you're using homemade, right?) will give the sauce a silkiness that simple broth won't.
In either case, the great thing about these recipes is that they'll work for whatever young veggies you've got on hand at the moment. I was at Nalls today, and picked up some asparagus and some beautiful young rainbow carrots that'll work fantastically. So, whichever you pick, open a bottle of crisp white wine and enjoy the fruits -- er, veggies -- of spring!
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